


Summer Has Come and Passed

by Coraleeveritas



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff and angst (maybe), Post - A Dance With Dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 04:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coraleeveritas/pseuds/Coraleeveritas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And much like the rush she now associated with falling in love, everything had a time to bloom and a time to fade. Summer was slipping through her fingers once more, like handfuls of the white sands she had ran and played on as a child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer Has Come and Passed

**Author's Note:**

> Another entry for the Shuffled challenge around Green Day's Wake Me Up When September Ends. Lyrics are at the end. 
> 
> (I've been having terrible writer's block so I'll apologise in advance if this feels a little outside what I usually write)
> 
> Huge thanks to my wonderfully talented beta RoseHeart for always being there with an insightful word or a kind suggestion. Without her, this bout of writer's block might have lasted even longer!
> 
> Nothing is mine as usual.

It was a sudden gust of cool air that roused her from sleep. The first breath of autumn creeping through each and every forgotten open window reminding Brienne that the innocence of summer could never last longer than a few heady, hazy, humid moments. And much like the rush she now associated with falling in love, everything had a time to bloom and a time to fade. Summer was slipping through her fingers once more, like handfuls of the white sands she had ran and played on as a child, but even as the temperature in the room dropped uncomfortably Brienne found she wanted little else than to focus on the warmth around her and slip back into dreams. She had been expecting the seasons to change ever since the second sack of Kings Landing had become yet another almost forgotten memory, the crossing from Storm's End on tempestuous seas rivalling bitten fevered nightmares for pain and sickness, as if the last blushes of heat had been saved especially for her suffering. Though that time when love's prayer left her lips, Jaime was never too far away to counter with a mocking word or gentle touch, a contradiction Brienne had not yet had time to grow used to. 

He had followed her willingly at a word in the Riverlands, his sword hers despite the likely betrayal shining back at him from tired eyes and forsaken promises. The trust forged in a bath that awoke more than just history altering truths becoming stronger than ever exactly when it was needed. But the realisation of how far they were both falling didn't come until after Thoros of Myr had undone the damage caused by bringing back a lost vengeful soul, after discovering the oncoming winter had frozen more than a sweet young maid with auburn hair, after fighting side by side and back to back against a foe that needed neither rest or sustenance to survive. Jaime was the only bedfellow she needed during drawn out winter nights, heart pounding like the drums of war at every accidental touch though her thoughts did not stray for long from cruel names and bitter rejection. Brienne never let herself believe he could love her, not when the cold pushed them closer and not even when spring broke with such a cacophony of noise that she swore bells were ringing out. She followed him after that, to a city and a sack and a sister, fire and blood tying their hands in a way that left no doubt in her mind that although Jaime would never forget or regret what he had done, they would both regret saying goodbye without acting on something that been just out of reach for years. 

Brienne gladly gave herself to Jaime the night before she was to champion for him, a gentle ache having turned into a pang of hunger that could only be satisfied by his lips and carefully considered caresses. Their first time was just awkward enough to make her shy away from the intensity burning behind his eyes, the raw desire hidden in darkening evergreen forests unlike anything she had ever witnessed before, the coupling becoming a promise that she would survive to enjoy many more nights moaning his name as Jaime coaxed her towards rapture. If only the danger of a vengeful Dragon Queen could have been forgotten, then there would be no harm in staying in that bed for another day, another sennight, another turn of the moon. At least sleeping, safe in the arms of the only man whom Brienne had allowed close enough to find a way under her now sated muscles and scarred flesh, she could forget why they had returned to a place filled with ghosts.

She was called upon to play the part of both victorious champion and vanquished foe in the new Queen's service after a trial by combat had attempted to restore Jaime's name and honour, seven years of dragons and desire and death. Her father faltered early that summer, falling prey to an inevitability that even he wasn't strong enough to outrun forever. Tears came almost too easily when the news eventually reached Brienne, falling like the nightly rains that flooded what little was left of the Red Keep with the sorrows of stars in mourning. Jaime shared in her pain, so many of his family now long dead or estranged, memories resting for a time but never quite forgotten.

And when all Brienne wanted was to beg forgiveness for choosing love over the duty she should have been fulfilling, Jaime reminded her that without one the other would never have flourished. She wanted to sleep, to wake only when thoughts and images had faded, but instead he took her back to a wrecked and ravaged Tarth.

She shivered again, her maze of thoughts only helping the cold seep further into the bedchamber, rolling and shuffling until her senses were overwhelmed by the familiarity of skin against skin.

"What are you trying to do, wife?" Jaime growled in her ear, the title still new enough to sound strange in the air.

"Sleep", she parried back though with his arms tightening around her, single hand gripping into her hair as his shorter right arm held her steady, Brienne realised her wish to sleep away the day wouldn't be granted. Much of the sweetness of their summer embraces gone, Jaime moved to capture her mouth in a languidly possessive kiss that stopped her from protesting at being woken fully.

"Was it the child?" Jaime asked as he pulled away, meeting her lips one last time before laying his head between her growing breasts. In this place, more than twenty years since her mother went to the birthing bed and never returned, the fate of the life they created haunted Brienne's every waking moment since feeling it quicken inside her. Jaime's hand caressed her swollen belly, murmuring nonsense to the cub who would now have to spend most of it's childhood in darkness. He laughed as his words were met with sharp kicks, "I know, sweetling, but if you don't let your mother rest..." Jaime trailed off as Brienne tensed under him, the fear too real to be spoken aloud.

"Winter is coming", she told him as another gust blew through their chamber, forgoing acknowledging anything else for now. "Why don't we stay here today?"

Jaime's hand found hers, entwining their fingers as she stroked through his greying mane. "Wake me up when autumn ends."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :) I appreciate any and all feedback that is sent my way :)
> 
> Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day
> 
> Summer has come and passed  
> The innocent can never last  
> wake me up when September ends
> 
> like my father's come to pass  
> seven years has gone so fast  
> wake me up when September ends
> 
> here comes the rain again  
> falling from the stars  
> drenched in my pain again  
> becoming who we are
> 
> as my memory rests  
> but never forgets what I lost  
> wake me up when September ends
> 
> summer has come and passed  
> the innocent can never last  
> wake me up when September ends
> 
> ring out the bells again  
> like we did when spring began  
> wake me up when September ends
> 
> here comes the rain again  
> falling from the stars  
> drenched in my pain again  
> becoming who we are
> 
> as my memory rests  
> but never forgets what I lost  
> wake me up when September ends
> 
> Summer has come and passed  
> The innocent can never last  
> wake me up when September ends
> 
> like my father's come to pass  
> twenty years has gone so fast  
> wake me up when September ends


End file.
